Overview

History shows that empires do not fall when they stop taxing. They fall when taxation stops working. From Rome's debasement to Spain's defaults, from France's exemptions to Britain's debt exhaustion, How Empires Tax Themselves to Death reveals the recurring fiscal mechanics behind imperial collapse. This book argues that decline is rarely caused by a lack of revenue. Instead, it emerges when taxation is used to preserve complexity that no longer produces value. By synthesizing classical theory with modern fiscal data, Stéphane De La Hour demonstrates how: States reach the limits of extraction Reform becomes politically impossible Debt replaces productivity Collapse becomes economically rational The analysis extends to the modern world, where advanced economies face aging populations, rising interest costs, capital mobility, and stagnating productivity. This is not a manifesto. It is an autopsy written before the patient is declared dead.

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